A learning space in Otemon Gakuin University Academic-Ark
Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei
Education
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Completed
A learning space for the Internet age
Located in the leafy city of Ibaraki in northern Osaka Prefecture, this project forms the core of the Ibaraki Smart Community, which occupies the 185,000 m2 site of a former Toshiba factory. The 40,000 m2 facility will serve as a new campus for about 3,600 students at Otemon Gakuin University, or about half the student population.
As Internet technology, artificial intelligence, and mobility improve and students no longer need to be on campus to attend school, what form will universities take? Our task as architects was to think about how to design a learning site that would inspire students to make that trip to campus. Since ancient times, Japan’s shrines and temples have held a mystery and attraction that has drawn pilgrims from all corners of the country, turning these sites into lively gathering places. This concept informed our image of the learning spaces of the future.
In order to attract people and concentrate activity in one area, we layered functions inside a single building. Our aim was to create a complex that welcomes diverse individuals, stimulates interest, invites exploration, and provides a place to spend time. We selected a triangular footprint as the most efficient shape for centralizing the excitement and energy of academic activity in a single space, and angled each corner of the building steeply inward to create inviting "gates" to enter through.
Inside this Academic Ark, as we named the building, visitors are greeted by a massive, floating silver volume in the main hall. The volume contains a library packed with those treasures of the learning space, books. A “book trail” encircles this centripetal space, flanked by six large classrooms on both the second and third floors and twenty-one small classrooms on the fourth and fifth floors. A large void between the library and the book trail allows for visibility between floors, making apparent the energy created by a learning site where individuals both see and are seen by each other.
Environmentally sustainable design elements include a cast stainless steel screen façade featuring a motif of cherry blossoms, the university flower, which both expresses the school’s identity and reduces the environmental load by sixty percent in summer. The rooftop garden on the fifth floor and the triangular corridor-like terrace covered by large eaves that encircles the garden reduce heat entering the building from the roof as well as provide a place for students to enjoy the gentle breezes as they relax or study.
This Academic Ark sits within a park-like campus that can be freely utilized by residents of the Smart City. It is our hope that the building will become a new space for learning that students actively seek out in order to experience connections with teachers, friends, and society at large even in this Internet age.
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Evening View. By lighting up in the evening, the architecture itself has become the lantern that illuminates large academic campus.
YAMAGIWA
Daytime View. Inverted triangular pyramid covered with stainless-steel eco-screen is open public
Shinkenchiku-sha
he corner of triangular plane overhanging approximately 40m to create the symbolic entrance.
Hisao Suzuki
Perimeter Terrace on 4th Floor. The world's first casted stainless-steel eco-screen cover from 2nd to 5th floor.
Naoomi Kurozumi
5th Floor Courtyard. The courtyard is surrounded by glassed “STUDIO”.
Shinkenchiku-sha
The Library, mass of silver block is floating in the center of the building. The bookcases are designed around the perimeter of the library to attract visitors.
Naoomi Kurozumi
'OG Living' is designed as the gathering place where activities can be seen from anywhere in the building.
Naoomi Kurozumi
The intention of the design is to lead people to the silver library through the bridge inside the building.
Naoomi Kurozumi
Library Interior. The staircase can also be used as the stages for presentations
Naoomi Kurozumi
The Skylight of the Professors Lounge in the Library. By the natural light transmitted from 5th floor courtyard, people in the lounge can feel the sense of time.
Shinkenchiku-sha
Approximately 20 x 10m large “STUDIO” can be used for the active learning.
Shinkenchiku-sha
5th Floor Roof Terrace. 4-meter cantilevered PCa concrete eaves provide protection from the rain. The classes can be held outside in rainy days while feeling the outside air.
Naoomi Kurozumi
Instead of multiple university buildings, just one
Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei
The campus consists of a single building with the most lively spaces (the library and halls) at its core, surrounded by classrooms. After considering square, triangular, and circular forms, we concluded th
Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei
Classrooms are positioned around areas where people gather. Students can enter the library directly from their classrooms, making this an organic layout that allows students to spend time studying or socia
Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei
An elevation design that provides diverse spaces for learning. We created a diversity of unique spaces for learning, relaxing, and studying. Distinct from both residential and public architecture, these sp
The roots of Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei lie in the Marunouchi Architectural Office, the architectural design firm founded in 1890 which designed Japan’s first modern office building.
Over the subsequent decades, as the country modernized, the firm went on to design a series of iconic brick buildings in the central Marunouchi district of Tokyo, the national capital. In the 1960s, responding to rapid economic growth and the burgeoning demand for office space, the area was transformed into a harmonious central business district.
In the 21st century, these buildings have been replaced with high-rise towers and the area has been reimagined once more as a lively district with vibrant commercial and cultural functions. Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei has led the development and renewal of the Marunouchi district across three generations, allowing it to bring unparalleled experience to bear in architectural and urban development projects throughout Japan and the world.